View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by OPUS: Open Uleth Scholarship - University of Lethbridge Research Repository University of Lethbridge Research Repository OPUS http://opus.uleth.ca Theses Arts and Science, Faculty of 2014 The Samnite legacy : an examination of the Samnitic influences upon the Roman state Doberstein, William Lethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of History http://hdl.handle.net/10133/3499 Downloaded from University of Lethbridge Research Repository, OPUS THE SAMNITE LEGACY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE SAMNITIC INFLUENCES UPON THE ROMAN STATE WILLIAM DOBERSTEIN Bachelor of Arts, University of Lethbridge, 2014 A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of the University of Lethbridge in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS History Department University of Lethbridge Lethbridge, Canada © William Doberstein, 2014 THE SAMNITE LEGACY: AN EXAMINATION OF SAMNITE SOCIETY AND ITS LASTING INFLUENCES UPON THE ROMAN STATE WILLIAM DOBERSTEIN Date of Examination: Dr. Christopher Epplett Associate Professor Ph.D Supervisor Dr. Kevin McGeough Associate Professor Ph.D Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. David Hay Associate Professor Ph.D Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. Heather Ladd Assistant Professor Ph.D Chair. Thesis Examination Committee Abstract The objective of this thesis is to fully deconstruct and isolate the considerable Samnite contributions to the Roman state during the period of the Samnite Wars. Although the literary sources have espoused a Samnitic origin for many Roman institutions, very little academic focus has been directed towards these claims. Scholars have generally tended to focus on one or two of these claims only as part of a larger argument. Thus no comprehensive examination of Romano-Samnite interactions exists, with the majority of studies depicting a unilateral process of Romanization. Since the Romanization of the Samnites has been widely documented, this study will focus on the reverse process, a “Samnitization” of Roman society. This will be achieved by examining the potential Samnite origins of the Roman military oath, gladiatorial munus, and the manipular organization and its armaments. Although the available literary and archaeological evidence prevents any definitive conclusions, these institutions appear to have significant Samnite elements; this illustrates a vibrant society which was not dominated by Roman society, but actively interacted and integrated with it. iii Acknowledgements I am deeply indebted to all my committee members for their advice, encouragement, and patience: Dr. Hay for his perceptive comments and his invaluable knowledge of military theory; Dr. McGeough for navigating me through the archaeological elements of my paper and for the alacrity with which he provided feedback. I am most indebted to my Supervisor Dr. Epplett, for without his guidance this thesis wouldn’t have been possible. In addition, I would like to thank my colleagues in the graduate program for their conversation and companionship. A sincere debt of gratitude is owed to my parents for providing me with an audience with which to vocalize my ideas. Finally I would like to thank my wife for providing motivation and support throughout. iv Table of Contents Lists of figures and tables vii Abbreviations viii Introduction 1 Chapter 1: The Origins of Gladiatorial Combat 20 Chapter 2: The Samnite influences on the Roman military 37 Chapter 3: The Samnite Oath 83 Conclusion 113 Bibliography 116 Appendix A: Maps and Figures 124 v Figures and Maps Figure 1: Map of Ancient Samnium Figure 2: Map of Ancient Lucania Figure 3: A picture of the Tabula Osca Figure 4: Tomb fresco from the Tomba Della Scimma, Chiusi. Figure 5: Tomb fresco from Tomb X, Laghetto necropolis, Paestum. Figure 6: Tomb fresco from Adriuolo Necropolis, Paestum. vi Abbreviations App. Civ. Appian, Bellum Civile App. Sam. Appian, Samnite Wars Ath. Deip. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae Aus. Griph. Ausonius, Griphus Ternarii Numeri Caes. Civ. Caesar, Bellum Civile Caes. Gal. Caesar, Bellum Gallicum Cic. Off. Cicero, De Officiis Cic. Orat. Cicero, De Oratore Cic. Sen. Cicero, Cato Maior De Senectute Diod. Diodorus Siculus, Bibliotheca Historica Dion. Hal. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Roman Antiquities Enn. Ann. Ennius, Annales Enn. Trag. Ennius, Tragedies Front. Strat. Frontinus, Strategemata. Gel. Aurelius Gellus, Noctes Atticae Hor. Carm. Horace, Odes Hor. Sat Horace, Satires Just. Dig. Justinian, Digesta Juv. Sat. Juvenal, Satires Ovid. Fast. Ovid, Fasti Ovid. Met. Ovid, Metamorphosis Plin. Nat. Pliny, Naturalis Historia Plut. Ant. Plutarch, Life of Antony Plut. Caes. Plutarch, Life of Caesar Plut. Cam. Plutarch, Life of Camillus Plut. Crass. Plutarch, Life of Crassus vii Plut. Num. Plutarch, Life of Numa Plut. Rom. Plutarch, Life of Romulus Sal. Cat. Sallust, Bellum Catilinae Sal. Jug. Sallust, Bellum Jugurthinum Sen. Con. Seneca, Controversiae Sen. Ep. Seneca, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilum Serv. ad Aen. Servius, Commentary on Vergil’s Aenid Suet. Caes. Suetonius, Caesar Suet. Galb. Suetonius, Galba Thuc. Thucydides, Peloponnesian War Val. Max. Valerius Maximus, Factorum ac Dictorum Memorabilium Varro. L. L. Varro, De Lingua Latina Veg. Mil. Vegetius, De Re Militari Vell. Pat. Velleius Paterculus, Res Gestae Divi Augusti Xen. Ana. Xenophon, Anabasis viii Introduction “Qui vincit non est victor nisi victus fatetur” -Quintus Ennius, Annales Of all of Rome’s greatest adversaries, the Samnites are probably the least understood. Arising from unknown origins, the Samnites first emerged into western history in the fourth century BC, quickly carving out a small empire in central Italy which exceeded that of Rome’s meager Latin holdings. Brought together by territorial expansion into the Liris valley, conflict between Rome and the Samnite tribes was imminent. Initially stemming from a regional conflict between the Samnites and a lesser Oscan tribe, the Samnite Wars eventually escalated into a battle for Italian hegemony. Although Roman conquest of the Samnite heartlands brought these wars to a close, it did little to curtail Samnite resistance to Rome. When Pyrrhus challenged Roman hegemony in Italy, the Samnites rallied to his banner. Following the catastrophic defeat at Cannae, the majority of the Samnite tribes again cast off the Roman yoke, throwing their support behind Hannibal. Two centuries after the formal surrender of the Samnites in 290 BC, they retained their opposition to Roman rule, proving to be the dominant force behind the Social War.1 Even after the defeat of the Italian allies and their armies in 88 BC, the Samnites continued to plague the Roman Republic. Following the Samnite defeat at the Battle of the Colline Gate, Sulla declared that peace was impossible so long as the 1Although sometimes called the Marsic War, the Social War could easily called a Fourth\Fifth Samnite War –depending on if one accepts Salmon’s suggestion of the Pyrrhic War as being another Samnite War. Of the 12 Italian rebel groupings, at least 6 can be classified as Samnite. Cf. Salmon, Samnium and the Samnites (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1967), 1. 1 Samnites remained unified.2 Descending upon the Samnites with zealous fury, Sulla ostracized or slaughtered every prominent Samnite he came across.3 Sulla’s ethnic cleansing campaign ended Samnite antagonism and resistance to Rome permanently, after which they were fully assimilated into Roman society. From the fourth to first centuries BC, the Samnites twice achieved what even Hannibal could not: establish a pan-Italian anti-Roman coalition. In the Third Samnite War, they were successful in creating an alliance with the Celts, Etruscans, Umbrians, and select Greek city-states, while achieving a similar feat amongst Roman socii in the first century (all dates BC unless otherwise noted). For all their defiance, the Samnites were never able to fully disrupt Roman hegemony, as despite numerous Samnite successes, the Roman state was always able to recuperate. Yet the Samnites had a profound impact on the evolving Roman state, the sum of which is substantially greater than their abortive struggles for Italian hegemony. Tempered by the fires of war, the Rome that emerged from the Samnite Wars was a different entity than the sleepy city- state of beforehand. New institutions, new faces, and new lands were integrated into the tapestry of Roman society due to Roman interaction with the Samnitic tribes. Thus, this study will attempt to illustrate the significance of the Samnite legacy upon Roman society. While Samnite society remained relatively independent until its final assimilation in the first century AD, due to obvious limitations this paper will focus on the periods surrounding the Samnite Wars and Pyrrhic War. Unfortunately, given the 2Strabo, V: 4:11. 3Strabo, V: 4:11. 2 dubious nature of sources and the sheer quantity of potential Samnite contributions, this also proves to be a Herculean task. In an attempt to provide an exhaustive exploration of each factor, inclusiveness will be sacrificed and many potential Samnite contributions will not be discussed. Thus, this study will only examine the Samnitic origins of gladiatorial combat, the mandatory soldier’s oath, and the formation and weaponry of the maniple system. Among those contributions omitted are the Samnite influences on Roman foreign policy, land reforms, and the emergence of a patrician-plebian aristocracy.4 While these adaptations prove